Terrace Bay will reduce fee for community garden boxes

Facing a rather difficult year ahead, the Terrace Bay council met up for a rather short meeting. The agenda was approved and the minutes for the previous meeting were accepted. The first item up was the Finance report. In the report, attention was brought to council on the situation regarding the retirement of old assets such as equipment, older buildings and other items owned and maintained by the municipality. This bylaw will aid in the tracking of value of assets and the ways in which these old assets should be disposed of. 
The Community development supervisor gave a report on the upcoming opening of the community garden season and a discussion followed. There will be a change to the pricing suggested for the rental of the boxes in the garden for this first year as a means to promote the garden for residents. Initially the fee was deemed too high for most casual users of the space.
The next item on the agenda was the hiring of more firefighters. Currently Schreiber and Terrace Bay have lost a few volunteers due to the mill closure and relocation of some residents who had been volunteering with the fire department. Three new names have come forward to help fill the void with training to begin in the next month. Terrace Bay will be signing a letter of support to recognize the important role played by public works employees. Heavy equipment operators in particular need training in order to fulfill their duties and the letter will appeal to government to help pay for that training.
The ACC meeting has applied for grant in aid to hold a meeting in the King Hall for a seminar on local business. The Chamber of Commerce was reinstated last year in order to allow business owners to voice concerns and create solutions for successfully carrying out their business. The council voted in favour of allowing them to use the hall for the evening.
All bylaws were then passed and then it was time for question period. No questions were presented and council moved into a closed session for the next half hour. When they returned the mayor gave an update on the situation at the mill. At present there is still no communication from the mill and currently it looks like the mill will officially close it’s doors by the end of April.
A follow up story by the Schreiber Media Centre will be released in the next few weeks as more information is gathered. It was hoped that a first nations funding project would be brought forward but there is also a concern that the current state of the building might be a deterrent to investors.
Finally a local resident was appointed to the police board and the date for the next meeting was confirmed. The meeting then ended for the evening.